Eight simple measures the Govt could introduce in advance of the full implementation of New Deal for Working People

The Campaign for Trade Union Freedom (CTUF) and the Institute of Employment Rights, along with many of our affiliated unions, are supporting the call for a Second Bill on employment rights to ensure that all the original Labour Party proposals in A New Deal for Working People are brought into effect.

As Labour Unions (TULO) said in May 2026, the government must “deliver the rebalancing of power in the workplace promised in A New Deal for Working People, in full, without any carve outs or loopholes”.

CTUF/IER proposes eight simple measures which Burnham’s Government could introduce in advance of full implementation of the New Deal. With one exception (tribunal reform), they would cost nothing while demonstrating to workers and trade unions that the Government is on their side.

Quite apart from a Second Bill for full implementation of the New Deal, the government needs urgently to establish a Ministry of Labour so that workers can be heard directly at the heart of government.

There was of course previously a Ministry of Labour in this country, which was renamed the Department of Employment, headed by a Cabinet minister. But it was abolished by the Tories in the 1990s, never to be restored by Labour governments since.

The lack of political representation at the highest level is a good indication of the low priority now attached to workers and their trade unions. It is not acceptable that workers’ rights should be the responsibility of a junior minister in the Department for Business and Trade.

If employers merit their own department and political representation at the highest level, so too do Britain’s 34 million workers.

This could be done now: it does not need primary legislation.